Bigger and Better

I'm writing this lying on my bed eating a slice of my mum's christmas cake, a hulking great wodge of which I brought back to London....As I fold back the tin foil and the characteristic christmas smell comes wafting out I feel sad the whole festive hoo ha is over but also optimistic about the year ahead.

Here's Max sweeping up the last of the needles after taking down the christmas tree at the shop...he actually managed, with Superduck's help, to force it into a garment bag, quite impressive when you saw the size of the tree, and then take it to be recycled.....

One of my favourite christmas memories is the boys' faces when they opened the costumes Stevie and I made for them( I say I, what my role was was making tea and snacks and sewing the odd oversized wool stitch). There's always the danger with children that you can think you've got the perfect present then their face falls and they look at you as if you're insane for thinking they'd want THAT! There's no sugaring the pill when you're five, no siree, "don't like it!" and on to the next present....but we however, got it spot on with Duke's Jedi and Joe's cat"person" (he's actually obsessed with Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns but we drew the line at a snap-fastening pvc leotard and instead made an androgynous-ish tunic, which looks quite Edward Scissorhands and cat-mask!).

Duke the Jedi took up his perfect position under the tree so as to get access to his presents with minimum legwork:

They're now obsessed with Stevie's studio, we were in there on Saturday and they were sticking glitter on denim with the promise they can come back and make them into jeans next time....they were trembling at the thought of course and now harbour aspirations in fashion design....

The best thing about starting work is when your mates pop by to say hello again. We had one of those brilliant coffe-morning type gatherings the first day back which was so lovely with Sarah, Superduck and Lucy and I all vying for attention with Sarah snapping away with her brand new camera...


So pleased she gave me the soft-focus treatment...I should always insist on it!!

One of my low points over christmas was eating a promotional item as I was SO hungry! Beth very kindly sent me a YMC biscuit of a coat and I hadn't brought my packed lunch that day so....


Well I was tired and hungry and very cold by the look of me in the picture! That reminds me, Michael Murphy sent me a funny thing the other day, a timesaving device that I'm sure we could all do with slipping in our handbags!

Ha ha ha ha ha!!!! I don't know how I haven't lived without one frankly!

So, this is the year I get things done, and to prove it, I'm being very regular with my blog as you can see and also exploring other creative outlets....witness if you will the little movie I made during a shoot with Constantine last week....Only last Thursday and already edited and blogged! That's the new me!!!

Three of my most beautiful,statuesque blonde girlfriends agreed to me exploiting them in a shoot Constantine asked me to style....we had so much fun loping about in the basement, dressing up and allowing bonnetising without so much as a murmer! Can't wait to see the pictures but here's an idea......

So big thanks to Alex, Gwen and Johanna, I'm so lucky to have such beautiful friends! And enormous thanks to Stevie who let me pillage the Bodymap archive AND rifle her costume store! Steve and Claire at Rellik for pulling out all the stops and letting me run off with their Laura Ashley stock at Christmas! Nathaniel thanks for being my silent assistant in a hood, and you will notice a smattering of Spring/Summer Eley Kishimoto in there too!!!!

Oh yes, this is the year to get things DONE!!!

If you haven't visited the sale yet, it's all 50% off!!!! See you soon.

Madame xxxx

Agent Nick Stokes

Sorry everybody, Shop At Maison Bertaux is only open between 12.30PM and 4:00PM as Pippa and Max are still away in Paris and I have to meet with our accountant Nickesh this afternoon. We are gonna be open as usual Tuesday though. I might have said previously, working at a boutique isn't always glamour!!

I will say though working Soho there is always some excitement. It really is a fabulous place. When I first came to London in 1995, I was instantly addicted to the place with all the seedy sex shops, cheap book shops and funny little cafe's. My first job was at Joseph in Harvey Nichols and with my friend Claudine, we would meet up with her friends after work for a drink at The Coach and Horses at 29 Greek Street. This is where I met people like Fraser Moss and his brother Dan - who were then doing a label called Professor Head that turned into YMC, Barnsley, the infamous Smiler... all amazing creative Soho people. In the summer months, the pavement of Romilly Street was packed with people - then we'd be off to Smashing which was in a basement on Regent Street. The other bar I went to a lot was Riki Tiks on Bateman Street. Then I went back to Tasmania for 8 months to save some money in 1997. When I returned, Soho wasn't the "in place" any more. Everyone had started to go out over in Hoxton - The Bricklayers Arms was the new pub to go to, soon followed by The Dragon Bar on Leonard Street. I have to admit, I was a little bit heart broken. I mean, I would rather not have to step over fried chicken bones on the pavement on my way to the pub in the East End. :) I can't complain though, I have spent enough time over on Old Street to fill a complete blog of it's own! And Pippa and Max DJ quite often at The George and Dragon which is a great pub to go to.

But back in Soho today - on the way to the bank Meard Street was cordoned off with police tape and there were people in white suits scurrying around. Of course my thoughts turned immediately to CSI - the Las Vegas one. Pippa and I both have "a thing" for Nick Stokes played by George Eade. He was the FBI agent who got buried alive in the Quentin Tarantino episode. We were both shocked to see him in a dandruff shampoo commercial recently! [Weren't you!!??] I just did a google search to try and find a picture of Stokes but instead I found this = mrs-nick-stokes.com What a nutter!

xx Emma